


be as you've always been

by backgroundgay



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Auror Ron Weasley, Crying, Draco Forgets, Established Relationship, Gay Draco Malfoy, Good Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Married Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, No mpreg, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Scorpius Is Adopted, other characters not tagged
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:01:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22280764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/backgroundgay/pseuds/backgroundgay
Summary: Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter are happily married, and raising their adopted son Scorpius, apparently. Draco doesn't remember any of that, and the question is why not.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 34
Kudos: 145





	1. one - uncreative title.

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Hoziers "be" because in my notes I wrote "pick a hozier Lyric for title" and I had an epiphany while listening to be. 
> 
> Fair warning: I have a terrible memory so most of my hp knowledge comes from guesses and other fanfics. Most of the magic will be dodgy so just take everything with a grain of salt :')

Draco Malfoy was sitting on Harry Potters workbench, against his better judgment. Harry was standing just in front of him, hands on either sides of Draco's hips. Draco had his arms resting on Harry's shoulders, his legs holding Harry in place. Draco sighed as he pulled away from their kiss.

"Harry, it won't be good for business if you're caught snogging someone right where you work," Draco said, putting his finger over Harry's mouth when he attempted another kiss. Harry frowned. 

"I'm sure no one will come two minutes after I open, on a Thursday," He complained, pouting, "and if it really comes down to it I can simply close until later," Harry mumbled, pressing soft kisses onto Dracos neck. 

Draco sighed again, "As thrilling as the thought is, some people can't just chose not to work whenever they feel like it. I've got to be in the office soon, I've a new client coming in an hour and I want to make a good impression for him," 

"I'm sure we can be done by then," Harry licked his way up Dracos neck, nibbling on his earlobe. Draco bit his lip. 

"Charming, Harry, but my office is a mess and I need to clean it up. This client says he needs help with some kind of potions research, and those are really my favourite jobs," Draco grinned down at Harry, who rolled his eyes. 

"Nerd," He murmured, and before Draco could respond their lips were pressed together. Draco flicked the back of Harry's neck at the comment but otherwise didn't respond. He did respond however, to the kiss. It quickly got heated, and Draco threaded his fingers in Harry's hair. 

They eventually broke apart for air, and Harry went back to Dracos neck, "perhaps I can be persuaded to stay a few minutes," Draco whispered, and Harry leaned back to grin at him. 

Before he could respond, the door to Harry's shop was opened, the bell at the top ringing for all to hear. Harry jumped back away from Draco, who was adjusting his clothes as if they had somehow gotten rumpled. 

"Oh! Hey Theo," Harry said, moving to lean against the workbench Draco was still sitting on. 

Theodore Nott was holding two coffees, and in one hand he also had a bag, presumably with baked goods inside of it. His eyes flittered between Harry and Draco, his mouth twisted in a scowl. 

"Malfoy, I didn't expect to see you here," he mumbled, slowly walking over to Harry, passing him one of the coffee cups and the bag. Harry grinned and pulled it open, eyes twinkling as he saw the cinnamon buns inside. 

"The surprise is mutual. You often come here and feed my husband unhealthy foods, Nott?" Draco said, sliding off of the workbench and crossing his arms. 

Theo opened his mouth to respond but Harry beat him to it, "Theo comes by almost every morning to feed me coffee and breakfast. We saw each other at that event a while ago and got to talking, remember? I'm not going to die over some cinnamon buns," Harry said, mock offended. 

"Hm" Draco made a noncommittal noise, barely suppressing the urge to glare at Theo. Theo was doing a similarly poor job. 

"Actually, _Harry_ , I can't stay long, have an appointment to get to," Theo said, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder as he passed by. Draco definitely glared at that. Harry didn't seem to notice, he simply waved goodbye to his "friend" and put the bag and coffee down on his table. 

Once Theo was out the door, Draco felt some of the tension leave his body. Harry, ever the clueless, simply turned and kissed him on the cheek and smirked, "now where were we?" He asked, moving a step closer. 

Draco stepped away, moving towards the door, "sorry Harry but I really must be getting to work. I only came by to tell you mum wants to have Scorp for the weekend. Have fun with your knick knacks and your secret friendships and your cinnamon buns," before Harry could even question him on that he was out the door and apparating away. 

Harry resolved to bring that up the first time he saw Draco next, and began working. After a while his customers did start trickling in, and he was lost in work. 

\--

Draco probably shouldn't have stormed out like that. Harry would never do something stupid like cheat on him, he loved their life too much, especially Scorpius. Harry probably didn't even notice Notts obvious attraction, and definitely didn't classify coffees and pastries as flirting. Idiot. 

Draco sigh and read over the file in front of him again, the form his client had filled out. He had already read it several times, but it never hurt to be prepared. His client would be coming in soon, and Draco always got new client jitters. He loved his job, helping people in any way he could. Most clients simply needed financial help, which he found easiest, but his favourite were the customers who needed help with potions, especially if they wanted him to brew it for them. His clients came in for all sorts of reasons, and sometimes all he could do for them was to point them towards someone else more qualified. His favourite client was the little girl who had come in one day, crying her eyes out and demanding he find her pet frog for her. She hadn't truly been a client, far too young, but he'd helped her. Supposedly she'd heard of him "helping people do things they couldn't" from her mother, and couldn't find anyone else to help her. 

Draco smiled fondly, before a knock on his door brought him back to reality. 

"Draco, the new client is here, shall I send him in immediately?" His assistant asked, and Draco cleared his throat and said yes. 

A minute or two later a very tall man walked in, wearing a large black jacket and a thick scarf. Draco put on his best professional smile, and gestured for him to sit in the chair in front of his desk. The mans name was Terrence Cheyenne, and he walked funny, as if unsure of his footing. He sat down slowly and didn't make a sound. 

"Tea?" Draco asked, gesturing towards the teapot and cups he had set up prior. Terrence nodded and Draco waved his hands, charming the teapot to pour two cups, "any sugar?" Draco asked, as his tea came gently floating towards him. At this Terrence shook his head no, and his own tea floated until it stopped in front of him. 

"If I recall correctly, you said you needed a little help with figuring out how to make a potion, and I think with some more details I can figure something out with you," Draco glanced around, mentally cursing himself. All his preparations and he couldn't have been bothered to remember to grab a notepad? He quickly ducked down and opened his cabinet, rummaging around for his notepad. He found it rather quickly, and sat up. Terrence now had his teacup in his hands, sipping it calmly. He never took his eyes off of Draco. 

Draco smiled and set his notepad down, "I think we should start with what potion you're trying to make," he said, reaching for his cup and taking a quick sip. It tasted a little off, but he didn't want to grimace right in the face of his client. 

Terrence didn't respond, and after a while Draco cleared his throat, "Mr. Cheyenne?" He asked, and blinked away some confusing blurriness. His head began to feel a little heavy, and he shifted in his seat, "I'm going to need a little cooperation if I'm going to help you," he chuckled awkwardly. 

Draco waited another couple seconds, and began shifting papers awkwardly. Pretty soon the blurriness wouldn't go away and he felt his eyelids lowering slowly. He cleared his throat again, silently panicking. 

"Goodbye, Malfoy," Terrence finally spoke, and his voice was alarmingly familiar. Draco tried to stand up, tried to do anything really, but he felt weak. Soon his head hit the table and he fell unconscious. The last things on his mind were Harry and Scorpius. 

\--

Harry was at home, about to start cooking supper for his family when an owl arrived. He didn't recognize it, and quickly grabbed a treat for it. He handed the owl the treat, patted its head and untied the letter from its foot. Weird, the letter was from Scorpius' school. Today was Dracos day to pick Scorp up, and Harry was a little curious as to why it was taking so long. He unfolded the letter. 

_Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy,_

__

_Scorpius Malfoy is patiently awaiting your arrival. We understand that occasionally one gets busy, but we advise you to schedule another way for your son to be picked up next time, or even inform staff if you will be late. We expect a quick arrival, and we hope there is no further neglect._

__

_Staff_

Harry read it twice before frowning. Draco hadn't picked Scorpius up? If he had been held back at work he would've said something. Harry apparated to Scorpius' school. He had to sign in, and press the tip of his wand against a charmed parchment so his magical signature could confirm it was him. He walked into Scorpius' class to see him and one other student talking. The teacher was sitting at her desk, looking ready to murder. She tried, unsuccessfully, to wipe the look off her face when she noticed Harry, and stood up to greet him. 

"Mr. Potter! Scorpius is right over there," she said, pointlessly. There was literally only one other child. Scorp noticed his dad and grinned. He ran up to Harry and gave him a hug. 

"Daddy! I thought you'd never show up! Isn't it papas turn to get me? Papa has never been late before!" Scorpius exclaimed, his arms still around Harry. Harry smiled at him. 

"Yes it's papas turn, I have no idea why he didn't tell me if he couldn't make it. Let's go home and owl him, yeah?" Harry said, and Scorpius grinned impossibly wider. They apparated away to his chant of "owl, owl, owl!" 

Once they were home, Harry checked the rooms first, thinking maybe Draco had arrived while they were gone, and was just in a terrible mood. When that failed, Harry and Scorpius wrote a letter together, ("dear papa, you forgot to get me today. It's okay. Don't forget next time, and I love you lots and lots," "Maybe I should write it?") and sent it off. A couple minutes later the owl came back, the unread letter still attached to it. Now Harry was starting to worry. He decided to fire-call Dracos assistant. 

The young girl answered the fire-call with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. Oh yeah, Draco had specifically hired her instead of another person because she was a huge Harry Potter fan, and it had amused him at the time. 

"Mr. Potter!" She exclaimed, her voice raising an octave. 

"Hello, sorry to disturb. Is Draco in?" Harry asked, plastering on a terrible smile that didn't reach his eyes. Dracos assistant, Harry really should remember her name one of these days, bit her lip. 

"He took in a client today and they haven't emerged yet. He ignore two of my calls, but I think it must be a really complicated request if it's taking this long," she said, nodding her head decisively. 

Complicated? Draco said it was just a potion thing, and those were pretty easy to him. He said as much to her, and she furrowed her brows. 

"Listen can I just come through? I'll go in, he won't mind," Harry asked, and she looked hesitant before nodding. 

Harry ended the call and yelled to Scorp that he was leaving for a few minutes and not to make a mess or let anyone in. Once he arrived Dracos assistant nodded and let him pass. Harry knocked on Dracos door, waiting for a response. He tried again a couple seconds after the first knock yielded no answer. 

After the second attempt went unanswered, Harry began to panic. He tried not to let it get to him, Draco ignored him all the time. Especially when he was with a client, so it wasn't anything new, it was just worrying on top of everything else, "Draco? It's Harry, I need to talk to you," Harry expected that to finally work, but yet again there was no answer. 

That's when he gave up trying to be polite, and quickly swung the door open. 

Nothing. Dracos office was empty. No Draco in sight. Harry's eyes were immediately drawn to the fact that there was unfinished tea on either sides of the table, and an empty notepad was opened in front of Dracos chair. The page was slightly crumpled. Harry felt his heart jump into his throat. 

He quickly left Dracos office and checked the nearby bathroom for him. No luck. He told Dracos assistant that he was gone. She looked panicked. 

"Just owl me if he comes back, okay?" Harry said, before he left. He checked on Scorpius, who was drawing pictures at the kitchen table. 

"When is papa coming home!" Scorp whined, and Harry could feel his heart hammering in his chest. 

"I don't know," he said honestly. He quickly set a charm so the food would cook itself. He didn't like doing it that way, and it never turned out the same as when he cooked the muggle way, but he knew he couldn't focus on cooking at the moment. He fire-called everyone he could think of, Dracos mother, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, even Ron and Hermione, asking them if they had seen Draco. 

None of them had. Ron told him that if Draco didn't show up within 24 hours, they had to consider him a missing person and an investigation would open up. That's when Harry finally let himself succumb to the panic. 

Where on earth could Draco have gone? Without telling anyone? Was he kidnapped, or worse, murdered? Harry's head was spinning. Draco could be anywhere, with anyone. 

Scorpius found him sitting in front of the fireplace, his head reeling with the possibilities. 

"Daddy, the food got done cooking. We should eat and wait for papa to get back from work," Scorpius said, putting his hands on either side of Harry's face, squishing his cheeks together. 

Despite himself, Harry laughed. He hugged Scorpius tight, picked him up, and walked over to the kitchen. 

Everything would be alright. Any minute now Draco would walk through the floo or the door and apologize for disappearing. Maybe he had to get some far off ingredient for a potion that a client needed. Harry could pretend that he didn't know Draco ordered his ingredients, or that he only saw one client that day, according to his assistant. It was easy to pretend while Scorpius launched into a detailed story of his day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this forever ago and I have been trying to write it on and off since then, but I keep losing motivation. I figured if I posted the first chapter and got feedback I'd find motivation to finish it. So if you liked this chapter, comment!
> 
> This also means I'm not done writing it so updates may be a while. I have the next few chapters but that's it, hopefully you enjoy enough to wait for updates :D!!


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They manage to find Draco but he seems to have false memories, and Harry fears they'll never return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was meaning to wait a week before uploading this but I'm so impatient and I want to know what y'all think. More chapter will take more time so don't expect daily updates Jsjdjs 
> 
> Also this chapter is shorter than the first my apologies!

Draco is certain of one thing, if nothing else, he hates when the customers act like they know more than he does. Especially Dorothy Jones, a regular at the library who comes in at least once a week making her demands, requesting Draco be fired, and generally causing a fuss. Draco thinks she must live a boring life if she can't stop herself from visiting and ruining everyone's day. All that lady does is make a fool of herself. 

"For the last time Mrs. Jones, you never returned that book, it would've been entered into the system," Draco explains for what must be the tenth time today. Jones looks like she might burst, her face has gone an impressive sort of red. 

Draco fears what she might shout this time, and wonders whether she would calmly leave or start screaming again. Apparently Draco didn't have to worry, as his coworker comes to the rescue. Rosalinda Mathusla, or as everyone called her, Rosie, gives Jones her sweetest fake smile. Rosie just has a way with the customers that Draco could never understand. 

"I'm sorry Mrs. Jones, but you never returned the book, now usually after so much time there is a fee you'd have to pay but I'll tell you what, since you're such a prized customer we'll give you a discount if you've returned it within the week. Say, five dollars off?" Rosie said, and if Draco didn't know any better he'd think she actually believed Jones was a prized customer. But Draco could see the tension in her shoulders and her eyebrow twitching. 

Mrs. Jones sends a smirk to Draco, as if to say "ha! I've won!" But Draco couldn't care less. 

The bell signalling someone has opened the door rings, and all three of them turn to look. 

Dracos heart drops

"Welcome! Take your time!" Rosie says cheerily, unaware of Dracos near breakdown. Mrs. Jones storms off but Draco can't take his eyes off of their new customer, who is similarly doing a fish impression right at the entrance. 

Neville sodding Longbottom, Draco hasn't seen him properly since Hogwarts but he's not hard to recognize, that's not the problem. The problem is Draco specifically came to this far away little town because there was absolutely zero wizard or witch activity, he'd looked forever to find a nice place without any magic visitors. He'd been here for four months and hadn't seen a single wizard or witch, he'd been sure that it would work out. Of course, nothing ever worked out for Draco, he should have expected it. 

"Draco!" Neville seemingly recovers, but Draco flinches at the sound of his own name. Why in the world is he using "Draco" instead of "Malfoy"? As far as Draco could remember, they were never on a first name basis, "what are you doing here! Harry's worried sick, everyone's been looking for you!" Neville says as he rushed over. 

"You know him?" Rosie asks, and Draco grimaces. 

"Yes!" Neville shouts, just as Draco says, "not really."

They exchange a glance, "Longbottom, I've no idea what you're doing here or why you've referred to me as Draco, but I have work to do so if you could hurry on," Draco says, doing his best impression of someone who's not considering living in a hole and never emerging. 

"Well I've come here for a plant that only ever grows here once every two years, and I figured I could find some interesting books in the library, but I never expected to find you here!" Neville explains, "Harry's gone crazy without you!"

Draco narrows his eyes, and Rosie squeals, "you've got a boyfriend! Named Harry? Why've you left him? No wonder you've never accepted Spencer's advances!" 

"No, Rosie, I don't have a boyfriend. I can't even remember the last time I've seen Potter, and I certainly have never dated him," Draco says, hoping against all odds that his face hasn't turned red. He feels his ears burning. 

Neville looks confused, maybe even hurt, before some sort of realization dawns on him. 

"I've got to go... restock some shelves or something, find your books and leave as fast as you can," Draco says, crossing his arms and walking away. He cringes when he hears Rosie's shout of "that's no way to talk to customers, Draco!" 

He hears the ring of the bell soon after and hopes that it's Neville leaving and not simply a new customer entering. When he doesn't hear Rosie greet anyone he lets out a breath. Then the door jingles again and Draco peeks around the corner to see Spencer McDonald sauntering in with a grin on his face. 

"Shit," he mumbles, trying to hide himself behind a bookshelf. 

\--

"You're sure it was him?" Harry asks, desperate. He has deep eye bags and hasn't even tried to control his wild hair in months. He's not eating as much, and he barely even paints anymore. It's been four months, even the media had lost interest two months ago (he'd never forget Harry's reaction to the first headline the Prophet had put out when news got around that Draco was missing, **"Ex-Death Eater Draco Malfoy Runs Away From His Family?"** Harry had gone mental.) 

They haven't told Scorpius, the five year old simply thinks that his papa has gone on a very important working trip, and he writes letters daily that Harry keeps in a box under his bed. 

"I'm absolutely sure, his coworker even referred to him as Draco. He seemed friendly with her, he referred to her as Rosie," Neville explains, and Ron leans forward in his seat, being the only auror in the room means it's important for him to know all the details. 

"Anything else? Did Draco seem worried, scared, or... guilty?" He asks, sparing a glance to Harry who furrows his eyebrows. He had been the only one to never entertain the idea that Draco ran away on his own. 

"He didn't seem upset, rather shocked maybe, but he definitely didn't seem to be in any distress or anything. He didn't even seem to remember anything. He called me Longbottom, didn't understand why I called him Draco, and said that he hadn't seen 'potter' in years and never dated him. It's like he's been obliviated... or something," Neville explained, still unwilling to make statements without any hint of doubt. 

"He doesn't remember?" Harry whispers, running his fingers through his wild hair and letting out a disbelieving breath. 

"That's good, he's not dead, trapped somewhere or run away from us. We can't make drastic moves, if he has forgotten we still don't know why, how, or who would do that to him," Ron says, before Harry can do something crazy like apparate straight there. 

"Hermione knows more about memory than I do. Maybe she can find out how he's forgotten, charm, spell, potion, etc. But we can't just storm in there asking questions, first of all, we can't go there at all looking like ourselves. He'll be suspicious, he's already shocked to see Neville, and we have no clue if the person who did this to him ever goes there, if they see us there they might panic and do something to Draco. We need to be careful, I'll ask Hermione to come with me to see him tomorrow," Ron says, his tone not leaving room for argument. 

"I want to go with you guys," Harry declares and before Ron can even finish sighing he continues, "I won't... do anything stupid or impulsive. I just want to see him, it's been four months and I just need to see that he's okay, alright? Please." 

Ron looks at Harry, sees the desperation, the determination but mostly the pure longing to see his husband again. Ron is nodding before his brain even catches up, "fine. You can come, but you have to be careful okay?" 

Harry nods, his glasses sliding down his face. 

\--

When Harry gets home with Scorpius, they both go into the kitchen, Harry to start dinner, and Scorp to write his daily letter. It had taken a week or two for Harry to resume cooking, the two of them had relied on ordered food or whatever the family brought over. They had been visiting a lot more recently, especially Ron, Hermione, and their kids Rose and Hugo. Scorpius had been curious at first but he likes spending time with his friends so he didn't much care for the reason.

Harry spends the whole time thinking of seeing Draco again, even if he’ll be polyjuice potioned and can’t interact with him as himself. He wonders what Dracos doing at a library, how he acts, how close he is with “Rosie”, but most of all he worries about Dracos lost memories. Will they ever return? Why would someone take away the memories of his life? Would Draco even want to remember-

“Daddy! The teapot is screaming!” Scorp shouts, and Harry starts. The teapot is in fact whistling, and Harry quickly goes to retrieve it, “You act weird when papa isn’t here. When is he coming back? I miss him, and I want to tell him about Marvins science project exploding!” 

Harrys heart swoops rather impressively, and he takes a steadying breath, “Soon, Scorp, soon,” he answers, and hopes with all his heart, so much so that it hurts, that hes right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I love dramatic endings.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They pay Draco a visit in his new life, and Hermione gets information from an overly chatty Rosie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, I got a little busy! This is the last chapter I had fully written, so updates will take a bit longer. I honestly wanted to rewrite this chapter because I’m not satisfied with it but I knew if I did that it would take forever. I think the next chapter is definitely looking better :>

For the four months that Draco had been gone, Harry had been struggling to sleep. Usually he would fall asleep after a few hours of tossing and turning, and then wake up to nightmares of what could possibly be happening to Draco. Sometimes he'd even dream of past things, like what would've happened to Draco in the fire if Harry hadn't circled back. Overall, his sleeping pattern had been pretty disrupted. He found it much harder to stay awake during the day, he had deep eye bags, and he was almost constantly in a foul mood. 

Once again, Harry is tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep, but this time he has a different reason. 

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he will get to see his husband again, safe. In some far away town that no one would've even thought to check, working at a library and having possibly no memory of ever dating Harry. Still, it was better than nothing. 

\--

Harry dropped Scorpius off at Mollys house early the next day, along with Ron and Hermione dropping Rose and Hugo off. Scorp had been ecstatic to find out he was staying with Molly for the night, and almost screamed when he found out Rose and Hugo were going too. He didn't even bother asking why. Harry, Ron and Hermione met back up at Harry's house. 

"So we just go in, act natural, Hermione will do her best to find out information on his memory loss, and then we leave, okay?" Ron explained, tone authoritative. 

Hermione nodded, she was already holding a book about memory loss spells and charms, no doubt having read something about memory potions the night previous. Harry was practically vibrating with excitement, and nodded as his stomach preformed flips of nervousness. 

They drank their polyjuice potion, and waited for them to take affect. Ron went with a tall man with brown hair, Hermione changed into a short blonde girl, and Harry turned into man with curly hair, dyed red. The three of them had gotten pretty accustomed to drinking polyjuice, for a long time and still occasionally they went out polyjuiced to avoid the media and fans that would swarm them. Harry thought that the fame would've faded away by now, but then again he was famous for the first 11 years of his life without even knowing it. 

Ron had set up a last minute portkey the day previous, that would place them directly outside the town. There was a ten minute walk from where they landed to the library that Draco worked at, and as they walked they went over their admittedly weak plan again. Once they made it to the door, all three of them paused. Hermione sighed and walked in. Ron shrugged and followed after her. 

Harry took a deep breath to steady himself and walked in. 

\--

Draco was in the middle of trying to avoid Spencer when the door jingled three times in a row. Why would the three new customers not just walk in all at once? He sighed. 

"Welcome! Welcome! Uh, welcome! Take your time!" Rosie said, also clearly thrown off by the weird order. Draco tried to speed walk over to her, behind the counter, but Spencer got to him before he could get there. 

"Draco I seriously think if we had coffee some time-" Spencer started, but Draco quickly side stepped him and then promptly ran head first into one of the new customers. 

"Sorry!" He mumbled before quickly walking behind the counter to hide- no stand, next to Rosie. Rosie smiled at Spencer and lifted an eyebrow. 

"Spence! When will you give up! He's not interested in dating you," Rosie said, a little too loudly for Dracos comfort. He glanced at the other customers, but they didn't seem to have heard. 

Spencer simply shrugged and leaned against the counter, grinning from ear to ear at Draco, "you've captured my heart," he states and Draco has to force himself not to grimace. Rosie sighs. 

"Spencer, if you keep disturbing Draco I'm going to have to kindly ask you to leave," Rosie gestures towards the door and Spencer rolls his eyes. 

"You know I'll always return for you my love," he calls before he leaves the library. Draco visibly deflates, and pinches the bridge of his nose. 

"Is it too late to resign," Draco asks, and Rosie giggles. 

"If you stop coming _here_ he's going to find you, probably at your house. Which is scarier?" Rosie says, and Draco refuses to answer. He glances at the other customers. Two of them seem to be in a heated discussion and the third is staring right at him. He feels his heart swoop before he quickly averts his eyes. He's probably staring at Rosie, it's not the first time a customer has found her attractive. Rosie noticed this and also turns towards the customers. 

"I swear Draco, what about you makes you irresistible to men? That red head is staring practically into your _soul_ ," She whispers, and Draco glares at her before storming off to finish the re-shelving he had been doing before Spencer had arrived and ruined his day. He passes the customers and hears one of them take a deep breath. What the hell? 

Draco just hopes they leave him alone. He's not in a good mood today, he's been getting headaches like crazy recently and it's pissing him off. Just as he thinks that a strike of pain goes through his head and he hisses, almost stumbling from the sudden burst of pain. He balances himself on a nearby shelf and puts his hand on his forehead. 

"Are you alright?" Someone behind him asks, with a vaguely familiar voice that Draco can't place. They must've come here before. He turns to see that it's the redhead. 

"Perfectly fine," he says, hoping that the guy doesn't feel the need to prolong the conversation. If he gets straddled with another Spencer he might actually quit this job. He'd be slightly sad to leave Rosie, but he imagines it wouldn't be hard to write her the occasional letter. He could find some other place, another nice and calm library to work at. 

Another strike of pain hits him and he almost falls straight over. A hand steadies him and he realizes that he's been ignoring whatever the redhead was saying. 

"Sorry. I'm fine, really. Continue looking around," Draco says before shrugging the hand off. He quickly walks back to the counter, deciding that the re-shelving can be done when his head isn't pounding. 

"Are you going to ignore that really handsome guy too? What is it that makes you avoid going on a simple date? Is it that Harry guy that person mentioned? Are you secretly still in love with him after a tragic break up?" Rosie teases, and Draco wants to die right then and there. 

"This is harassment. I already told you, I never dated Harry. He's a stupid know-it-all and I haven't seen him in years. Besides, he's married," Draco says, ignoring the sharp intake of breath from the direction of the customers. He glances towards them and sees that they're all talking now. Why in the world didn't they come in all at once if they knew each other? 

"Married! A tragic tale, who is this man! One word and I'll beat him up," Rosie says, pretending to roll up nonexistent sleeves. 

Draco rolls his eyes, "and people say _I'm_ dramatic. He's got a little ginger wife that he's been dating since school, and he's _straight_ ," he explains, and before Rosie can respond Draco gestures to the customers, "and those people are just standing there talking. They clearly need help, so one of us has to go over and I don't feel like dealing with people right now."

Rosie huffs and walks over, addressing the little blonde girl first, "hello! Do any of you need any help?" She asks, using her most professional sweet voice. 

The two men shake their heads no, but the blonde girl smiles and says, "yes, actually. Can you show me the non fiction sections?" She asks, and Rosie internally rolls her eyes. There are signs for a reason. 

She leads the girl towards the other side of the library, and when they're almost there she speaks up again, giving Rosie a nice smile. 

"I love your hair! Is it natural?" She asks, and Rosie grins. 

"If only! Hair like _this_ can only come in a box. It's dyed! Vegan dye of course, I redo it every couple months," Rosie explains, running her fingers through her hair. 

Hermione nods, pretending to be interested, "and what about your coworker? You see, my hair is dyed as well and I would love to get such a striking blonde colour!" 

Rosie gives her a once over, "wow I never would've guessed! Sad to say, Draco doesn't dye his hair. I'm not sure he even knows what hair dye is! Does your red head friend know any place? I'm assuming that red isn't natural," Rosie continues, glancing back at Ron and Harry. 

Hermione pauses, "oh he's kind of useless, he doesn't know where he got the dye. Im sure him and Draco would be birds of a feather, if you say Draco doesn't even know what hair dye is," she chuckles, hoping the comment isn't weird or suspicious. She just wants to keep the topic on Draco, find out as much as she can. 

Rosie also laughs, "I'm sure they would, but Dracos super wound up. Hard to become friends with a man like that, he didn't even know my first name the first month he was here. But he's a real sweetheart once you get to know him, until the month ends that is," she mumbles the last part under her breath, but Hermione hears it anyways. 

"End of the month?" She asks, attempting a casual tone. 

"Oh, well," Rosie glances back at Draco, before leaning closer, "towards the end of the month he gets nasty headaches, comes out of nowhere. He becomes real hard to deal with at those times, but by the next month he's perfectly fine. He doesn't talk about it," she whispers. 

Hermione hums. The conversation clearly over, Rosie smiles, waves, and walks back towards the register. 

\--

Harry, Ron and Hermione leave soon after that. To avoid suspicion, Hermione takes out a book at random on bugs. Draco checks it out for her, but he seems distracted and they don't exchange many words. 

As soon as they're out the door, Harry lets out a deep breath. They walk in complete silence, until someone walks into Harry. A tall man in a black coat, far too warm for the weather Harry thinks. 

"Sorry," they both say, shuffling along. 

The three of them reach the edge of town, and finally Hermione starts mumbling to herself about what happened. 

"False memories. Headaches, get worse once every month," she mumbles, and Harry feels his heart hurt listening to her. He can't think of anything that would give Draco false memories like that, but Hermione probably does. 

"How does he have false memories?" Ron asks, and Hermione stays silent. For once, she has no answer for them. 

"Maybe obliviation, but even then they're just a vague sense of what happened. Draco sounds far too sure that Harry is a straight man married to Ginny," Hermione explains, and Harry's heart does not calm down even a little bit. 

If Hermione doesn't know what's wrong, who will?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know how to get the notes from at the end of the entire story to just the end of the first chapter lol


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry does something stupid, but he can’t stop himself from seeing Draco again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wasn’t going to upload again so soon but the last chapter is really bad but this one is much better and it’s longer so I wanted to upload it as fast as possible.

After their first visit, Ron tells Harry that he can't be too involved with the case, since he's too close and may become irrational. Harry doesn't listen until Hermione, glossy eyed, tells him that he might ruin the whole process if he does anything impulsive. 

Harry finally listens, nodding his head and rubbing his tires eyes, sitting at Hermione and Ron's kitchen table. 

Then he does something irrational and impulsive. 

\--

Being famous Harry Potter does have its perks, he thinks, as he is allowed to set up a portkey the second he walks through the office doors. He'll be in and out, he thinks, just seeing Draco is still okay will put him at ease. He'll leave quickly, open up the shop, and then he'll be fine. 

Once he gets to the library, glamoured as the same red head as he didn't have access to polyjuice potion anymore, he takes a deep breath. Just a couple minutes. 

He walks in and sees Draco and Rosie at the register again, but this time there is another worker. A short man with greying hair and a strange posture. His name tag says Frank. There aren't a lot of customers, just the occasional person browsing. The one oddity is the tall man waiting in line, wearing a long black jacket and holding a couple coffee cups instead of books. Harry swears he looks familiar. 

Harry watches as the man gets in front of the line, smiling and waving and handing out coffee to Rosie and Draco. Draco rubs his forehead, smiles gratefully, and takes a long sip of the coffee. The man has clearly been there before, maybe he brings coffee to the workers often. Rosie doesn't drink hers. 

The man leaves soon after, almost bumping right into Harry as he leaves. Harry watches as Draco turns around and Rosie chucks her coffee into the garbage. He makes eye contact with Draco and suddenly he can't breath. Draco stares at him for a second, eyebrows raised, before he quickly turns around to go help a customer. 

Harry walks further into the library, hoping he doesn't look awkward or suspicious. Frank asks if he wants any help, and Harry shakes his head without looking away from Draco, who's reaching high above his head to put a book on the shelf. 

Rosie slides up to him, smirking, and Harry almost jumps out of his skin. Good thing he never took up being an auror, he would've been terrible. He doesn't know how his reflexes got so bad. 

"I know right? What a catch, but Draco and I have become very close over the months, and I know for a fact he hates when people are obsessed with him, so if you expect to come in here everyday and stalk him like some knock off Spencer McDonald then think again," Rosie says, crossing her arms and glaring at Harry. Harry pauses, raising an eyebrow. 

"Spencer McDonald?" He asks, already not liking him. He thinks that Spencer must be the guy he saw yesterday, who had confessed his love for Draco and had been rejected. He _really_ doesn't like him. 

"Oh wow, you must be new. Spencer McDonald is super in love with Draco right now, basically the whole town knows about it after he tried to do a really grand gesture in the middle of town and Draco just walked away," she laughs at the memory, "word spreads fast in such a small town." 

Harry's eyes narrow, this Spencer's guy clearly doesn't know Draco at all. 

"No- I mean, I am new, but I'm not going to... _stalk_ Draco?" Harry shakes his head, "I'm just... curious about him I suppose," it's not entirely a lie, he is curious about this Draco who seems to believe that Harry is married to Ginny. He wonders if Draco thinks he has any kids, he wonders if this Draco... is interested in anyone. If Draco, with false memories, falls in love with someone else, would he want to be with Harry again after he gets his memories back? Possibly he would stay because of Scorpius, but even then maybe he would simply take Scorp. Harry hates the thought. He hates the bought of Draco never remembering even more. 

"Honestly, the only reason we haven't chased Spencer out of the whole town is he's my cousin, and his parents own this place. Makes him think he can get whatever he wants, Draco included," Rosie sighs as she speaks, and she glances at Draco before turning back to Harry, curious about what his response will be. 

Harry is silently boiling with rage, but he doesn't let it show on his borrowed features, "guys like that are the worst," he mutters, but it's not entirely true. Draco had once been like that, a spoiled brat who got what he wanted or made everyone suffer for it. Harry hopes he isn't being hypocritical when all he does is think fondly of those days and already hates Spencer for it. 

"That's good to hear, honestly I'm getting good vibes from you, for now I'll vouch for you, but in the months I've known Draco, I have never once seen him interested romantically in anyone. Between you and me, I think he might still be hung up on a past lover," Rosie whispers conspiratorially, a twinkle in her eye. Harry thinks she's probably telling him, in her eyes a complete stranger, too much information. She probably just loves the drama. 

"Past lover?" He asks, hoping to get her talking more. He wants to know what this Draco is like and Rosie seems to be his best option at the moment. She kind of reminds him of a muggle Pansy, or maybe Pansy if she had been sorted into hufflepuff rather than slytherin. Pansy would kill him if he knew what he was thinking. 

"Draco doesn't really talk to me about his past a lot, but the way he acts when people flirt with him is a dead giveaway," Rosie says, and honestly if Draco had told her his past then she probably would've blurted it all to the first person to ask. It's a good thing Rosie isn't magic, she would've blown their cover a long time ago. 

"What's..." Harry takes a breath, "what's he like?" 

Rosie smiles softly and turns to look at him dealing with another costumer. He seems to be in a better mood than the last time Harry came, possibly because the month ended. He desperately wants to know more about the headaches, if they have anything to do with the memory loss. He hopes it's nothing serious, and maybe it’s an indication that whatever has messed with his memories is temporary. He doesn’t like the implication that it’ll hurt to get his memories back. 

“He’s a nice man, deep deep _deep_ down. You’ve just got to get him in the proper mood and keep him happy,” she pauses, “definitely do not make a whole spectacle in the middle of the park in the middle of the town, where a lot of people will see you get rejected,” the last bit seems a bit specific, and Harry thinks he knows more details about Spencer’s failed grand gesture. He nods sharply and Rosie slaps him on the back, “I believe in you big fella! Try not to make a scene!” 

Harry watches her leaving and then turns back towards Draco... it probably wouldn’t hurt to talk to him right? Especially if Rosie believes he's simply a stranger with a crush, it would probably be strange if he simply stared at him and never spoke to him. His palms are sweaty as he approaches Draco, hoping his face doesn't reflect how nervous he suddenly feels. It's like when him and Draco first started dating all over again. 

"Hello," he says as he stops to stand next to Draco. Draco turns towards him with a raised eyebrow, clearly hesitant about this interaction. He stops shelving books and turns towards Harry completely. 

"Having any trouble?" He asks, and Harry has to internally force himself not to chuckle at his customer service voice. He had never heard Draco talk like that, so falsely friendly. Despite the strange tone of voice and the fact that Draco doesn’t know him, Harry gets excited all the same. He can’t help the slightly goofy grin that appears on his face. 

“No... I mean,” it’s weird for him to just go up to talk to a worker for no reason right? “Er... yes, what’s your recommendation?” He asks, already knowing Draco’s carefully crafted top ten books, none of which will be offered at this muggle bookstore. 

Draco raises his eyebrow and then glances at Harry up and down, which makes Harry giddy for reasons he can’t explain. He knows Draco isn’t checking him out, and either way the body he’s borrowing is just that, borrowed. 

“I would need to know your preference in order to recommend something, don’t you think? What’s your favourite genre, let’s start there,” Draco says, and that’s a voice Harry recognizes. His professional and helpful voice, which he uses at his _actual_ job. It makes something in Harry flutter, but it also makes him feel vaguely like he has to run and get out of there before he does anything stupid. 

“Uhhh...” Harry can’t remember the last time he picked up a book to just read, most of his book knowledge comes from Draco reading aloud and complaining about what ever twist or ending he didn’t like and claiming he could’ve written a better ending with his arms tied behind his back. It’s very endearing, “fantasy?” He guesses, grasping at straws. 

Draco nods and seems to think it over, “if you’ll follow me I think I have a selection you might like,” he says and begins walking away. Harry follows closely behind, and they pass Rosie who’s checking a book out for someone. She wiggles her eyebrows at him and Harry feels even more certain that her and Pansy should never meet. 

He leads Harry to a section of books and Harry half listens as he explains the plot, simply happy to hear his voice again. Harry nods and takes the first book of the series, again following behind as Draco leads him to check it out. 

“Have fun reading, tell me if you enjoy it,” Draco says, and he seems to be in a better mood. Harry smiles and nods, leaving the bookstore with the book in his hand. He would’ve liked to stay longer, but he doesn’t want to do anything that would raise suspicion. He checked out a book and now his job at the library is done. 

He walks distractedly back to where his portkey is sitting and thinks of what he should make for dinner, Scorpius has been in a sad mood lately the longer Draco is gone, so he thinks maybe they should treat themselves. Draco doesn’t often let them have pizza, saying it’s greasy and not to their taste, but Harry thinks it’ll be good for the day. 

He walks into his shop, barely acknowledging all the people who wave to him as he walks. He enters the shop and opens it, later than usual. Not very many customers show up, probably due to the late start. As the day continues, Harry is stuck thinking of his visit to Draco. He can’t help the smile that rests on his face for the majority of the day, which Theo comments on when he shows up to give Harry lunch. 

“I came to get you breakfast but you weren’t here, busy morning?” He asks as Harry digs into his salad. 

Harry, after taking a second to swallow, nods, “had to take care of some business. Sorry, what about you?” Harry asks, glancing at the door as the bell jingles. It’s just a customer looking around, so Harry focuses back on the conversation. 

“I’ve become to accustomed to seeing you in the morning, I almost couldn’t survive the day,” Theo says dramatically, and Harry rolls his eyes. 

“I’m not even going to comment. Where’d you get this salad? It’s really good,” Harry changes the subject fast. He isn’t sure why Theo sometimes makes jokes like that, it seems unfitting to their friendship. 

Theo grins, “flattery will get you everywhere, Harry! I made it myself,” he explains, and Harry nods, impressed. 

“You seem to be in a better mood lately,” Theo comments a while later, after Harry has helped a few customers out. Harry smiles softly to himself at the comment. 

“I’m definitely feeling much better than usual,” he responds, and feels the itch to paint, something he hasn’t done in a while. He nods decisively, and gets up to his little painting station. Theo follows him, eyebrows raised. 

“Wow, that must really be true. I haven’t seen you paint in a long time. New muse, perhaps?” Theo leans against a nearby wall, watching Harry set up. Harry likes to paint while he has customers, it seems to encourage them to buy little trinkets and maybe a painting or two. He certainly undercharges his skills, but neither he nor Draco have ever had to struggle for money so he doesn’t see the point in charging hundreds for a single painting. 

“You could say that,” Harry mutters, and finds himself painting Draco. A Draco surrounded by books, smiling as he reads aloud. Theo watches the painting come to life with a frown, which Harry doesn’t comment on. He had figured that maybe the two never really got along, maybe something happened in their past that neither really got over. Theo leaves soon after, and Harry paints for the rest of the day, until he has to pick up Scorpius. 

Scorp sees the paint on his fingers and grins, “you painted! Is it me? Paint me! And papa! With a dragon!” he shouts, climbing onto Harry’s back. Harry laughs and tells him about the painting. 

Things are really looking up for them, he thinks. Draco will be together with them again in no time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder if I’m even writing Theo right I don’t remember him at all lmao. Comments are highly appreciated, now that I’ve run out of pre written work :’))


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry sees something and comes up with a theory, which means he has to reveal to Ron that he’s been seeing Draco

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter flows a bit strangely but I’m actually pretty pleased with it :>

Harry continues to go to the bookshop a couple times a week, while hoping he doesn’t go while Ron and Hermione are trying to get information. So far he’s been lucky, but he tries not to stay too long. Draco and him have been growing closer, something Harry didn’t expect to have to work for again. Draco seems comfortable around him, and it’s his theory that he’s like that because his subconscious recognizes it as Harry, his husband. He had also introduced himself, quite stupidly, as “Ha-Henry,” and Rosie had taken to fake stuttering every time she said his name. 

Harry does notice that the more time goes by, Draco gets more easily annoyed as his headaches act up. Then almost exactly one month later, the same man Harry had seen brings the workers coffee again. Rosie again doesn’t drink hers, but Draco does and it’s like his headache is cured. Harry notes it for later, but his immediate theory is that the man may be the one putting him here and the coffee is laced with something that erases his real memories. It’s a huge conclusion to jump to, but Harry can’t see how Draco could suddenly recover because of the man twice. 

“Who was that?” Harry asks Rosie, as he helps her shelve some books. He’s definitely gotten a lot closer to Rosie in the month, and every interaction makes Harry like her more. She certainly seems like someone he would be friends with. 

“That’s Terrence, he comes here once a month because he used to work here she he says he misses it. He brings coffee, but it tastes awful so I usually just throw mine out. Want it?” Rosie asks, offering him the cup that she had been about to throw out. Harry nods and takes it, he should have someone test it just in case. He might get in trouble for coming here when Ron specifically asked him not to, but if he finds something that will help them get Draco back it’ll be worth it. 

Harry doesn’t drink the coffee, but he keeps it with him for the whole time he’s there, even when Spencer comes in again to bother Draco. He’s only shown up one other time Harry’s been there, and he had been put off by Harry hanging around with Draco. He didn’t say anything about it but Harry felt smug that Draco didn’t hide from _him._ The thought alone makes him think of petty school drama, but he’s nonetheless proud of himself. 

“Henry, fancy seeing you here again,” Spencer says, and Draco scoffs and rolls his eyes. Harry smiles, he really loves when Draco rolls his eyes. It’s a dramatic gesture every time, when Draco rolls his eyes it’s for an audience. Harry really can’t wait for Draco to remember their life. He wants to tease Draco about his customer service voice. He wants to cook dinner for all of them, him and Scorp singing off key to terrible hit songs while Draco pretends he doesn’t know the lyrics, he wants to listen to Draco complain about his job that they both know he loves. He wants to _hold_ Draco again. 

He _doesn’t_ want to see Draco pretending to grab something from the back room in order to hide from Spencer making a fool of himself again. Harry has half a mind to say something, but he knows he shouldn’t cause drama, especially since Draco will be out of here soon. 

Harry leaves soon after that, he had only been there for a bit to visit and then he had to pick Scorp up. He isn’t sure how he keeps getting away with making portkeys but he thinks it has something to do with the starry eyed look in the workers that help him. He arrives at the school as usual, picks up his son, and then arrives home safely. Harry is about to start making dinner when suddenly Scorp bursts into tears. Harry hugs him and asks him what’s wrong. 

“I don’t think papa loves me anymore!” He cries, “he’s been gone almost forever and he won’t give me a letter back when I write him!” 

Harry feels tears well up immediately. He isn’t sure how to comfort Scorp without revealing the truth, so he calms him down and makes the two of them hot chocolate. The two of them then grab every comfortable blanket and pillow they can find and set them all up on the couch, making a fort. 

“Scorp, papa loves you more than anything in the entire world, he’s just very busy. He probably writes you everyday, but maybe the letters just can’t reach us?” Harry isn’t sure if he’s helping or making it worse, but it’s all he can think of to say. 

Scorp sniffles, he had stopped crying as they made the fort, but his sniffles weren’t stopping, “like a dragon steals them?” He says, and Harry honestly has no idea where his obsession with dragons recently had come from. He thinks of asking Ron, but that might be the wrong Weasley. 

“A very mean dragon,” Harry agrees, and Scorp nods. He grabs some paper and begins writing his daily letter, more determined than ever. Harry smiles as he watches him work. He suddenly remembers the now extremely cold coffee he had taken from Rosie, and decides to quickly get it to Ron, if it’ll get Draco back any sooner. He gets up to fire-call him, leaving Scorp to his work. 

It takes a bit for Ron to answer, and he does so with spaghetti sauce on the corner of his mouth, “what’s up, mate?” He says, and Harry takes a beat to respond. 

“Well, I have to be honest here, I... er,” he cringes, “I’ve been visiting Draco in secret,” he takes a moment to look back and make sure Scorp hasn’t heard him, and when he looks back at Ron he winces at the defeated look on his face. 

“Right well, I’m just surprised you’ve actually told me,” he comments, rolling his eyes, “guess I should’ve known.” 

Harry nods, “well I probably wouldn’t have told you if I didn’t have to. You see, I’ve seen a man there twice now. He wears a big black jacket, and he gives the workers coffee once a month. You remember his unexplained headaches? After he drinks the coffee they go away, so it’s my theory that the man is responsible for how Draco is now,” Harry explains, “I’ve gotten some of the coffee meant for Rosie, I assume it has some in it as Rosie said it tastes weird and the man has no way of knowing which Draco will choose beforehand.” 

Ron sighs for a while, “bugger me, you’re sure you don’t want to become an auror?” Ron asks, and then he calls back to Hermione that he’s going to Harry’s and that she should join them once she’s done eating. 

Once he’s through Scorp waves excitedly and the two of them move to the kitchen table, where Harry slides the coffee over to him. Ron opens it and looks in, shrugging, “not my expertise, I’ll have someone check it out,” he says, putting the lid back on. 

“So, other than the coffee have you gotten anything from Draco? Unless, you’ve just been flirting with him this whole time despite him not knowing who you are?” Ron asks, eyebrows raised. Harry turns red and looks away from his ginger friend. He’s saved from a response as Hermione floos over, children in tow. 

“Go find Scorpius!” She says cheerfully, quickly looking around to spot the two men at the kitchen table. She raises her own eyebrows at Harry as she walks over, arms on her hips. Harry feels like he’s being scolded by a mother, not uncommon when it comes to Hermione. 

“What’s this I heard about a certain Harry visiting a certain Draco?” She says, and Harry’s relieved she doesn’t seem seriously angry. 

“You know me, I couldn’t stop myself from seeing him,” Harry defends himself, “anyways, it was a good thing anyways.”

“True, we’ll forgive you this time. What did you find?” Hermione asks, taking a seat next to Ron. 

Harry gestured towards the coffee cup, “I think this coffee is mixed with a potion of some sorts that makes Draco forget everything,” he explains, and tells her about the man he saw. Hermione nods solemnly. 

“We can’t just arrest the man for no reason, he seems to come once a month so by the time he comes next we’ll have had someone look at the potion. If it wields nothing we can’t make this guy a suspect, unless something else he does seems suspicious,” Ron declares and Harry rubs his hands on his face, realizing how tired he is. 

“I hope this nightmare will end soon,” he mutters, and Hermione reaches across the table to rest a hand on his chest, smiling supportively. Ron nods his head and gives a weak smile. 

“I’ll bring this coffee in. _try_ not to visit Draco again?” Ron says, tone hopeful. He reaches across the table to grab the coffee and stands up, stretching. 

“No promises,” Harry responds, chuckling as Ron gives him a look. 

“I’ll stay for a while, Rose and Hugo are excited to see Scorp again and we haven’t been here long,” Hermione says, standing up to make herself some tea. Ron nods and floos away, coming back about twenty minutes later, taking the offered tea that Hermione holds up. 

Harry smiles into his own cup, things are really starting to look up for them, he’s hopeful and excited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously these notes at the end of the work instead of the end of chapter one are my enemy.  
> update: i finally figured it out jkdbcdc
> 
> Please comment :’))))))


	6. don’t look at me I’m depressed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is in the right place at the right time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow I hadn’t realized how long I had actually gone without updating. Um, my bad. I have a bit of a habit of starting projects and then leaving them unfinished for months at a time, and really the only reason I managed to finish this chapter is because someone commented something about me leaving it on a cruel cliffhanger and it made me giggle.  
> Also, I’m like 18, I started writing this when I was 17, so sorry if some of the adult stuff doesn’t make sense, according to that commenter a bookstore and a library are two different things and I keep calling the place Draco works both. Well I’m sticking with library for now, because I’ve mentioned checking books out a lot. Let’s just say it’s a library where you can also buy the books (is that not a thing? I always thought it was)  
> Again, sorry for the absence. If you continue reading anyways thank you so much!!! Also sorry for all the spelling errors in chapter five omg that’s embarrassing.

Harry is painting in the workshop section of his store. Business is a little slow, so he’s humming to himself. Theodore is in the store, walking around the shop as he does every once in a while. He’s usually stood next to Harrys painting station, leaning against a wall. But obviously that gets a little boring, as Theo has a habit of grabbing some random item off the shelves and asking Harry about it. 

“So what’s the story with this then?” Theo asks, presenting Harry with a clay pottery cat, painted black and it’s face completely flat apart from the cats face that is clearly drawn on with a toothpick while the clay was still soft. Harry chuckles. 

“His name is supposedly Albert, it’s a decorative piece that’s said to attract cats, although I’m not sure if that’s true. He looks a little wonky wouldn’t you say,” Harry responds, gently taking the piece from Theos hand. Their hands brush together and Harry internally cringes. Theo smiles down at him, and Harry turns away so he doesn’t have to deal with that. 

He’s saved by the bell, as someone enters his store. Harry glances from his painting and is shocked to see Ron standing there, looking around the store for Harry. 

He stands up and excuses himself from the conversation with Theo, walking over to Ron. Ron brightens at the sight of him and pulls him near the back of the store. 

“So, the cup did have a potion in it, but it wasn’t any sort of potion that we’re aware of,” Ron starts, voice low. Harry’s shoulders slump and he is about to say something but Ron interrupts him, “but there’s a lot of common ingredients with other memory based potions, and this gives us a lead, it’d have to be someone with knowledge of potions and access to the ingredients.”

“So, pretty much anyone smart?” Harry says, and Ron sucks a breath in through his teeth. 

“Smart and experienced, you don’t make a potion like that off the fly,” Ron amends, and claps Harry on the back. Harry takes a step forward, grunting at the force, “just wanted to update you. We’re getting closer to solving this thing. I’ll see you later, yeah?” 

Harry nods, and Ron exits. 

Theo slides up next to Harry, bumping their shoulders. Harry jumps, not realizing he was so close, “what was that about?” He asks, glancing at the door where Ron has just exited. 

Harry hums for a second, leading them back over to his painting station. He glances at his still unfinished painting and sighs, not feeling up for continuing it anymore. He puts his supplies away slowly, giving himself more time to answer. Theo leans against his usual wall, watching Harry calmly. 

“Theo, do you know much about potions?” Harry asks, not willing to share too much details, which he himself shouldn’t even have access to. They had never been great at following the rules anyways. 

“Not much, but I passed the class. Why?” Theo asks, looking disinterested. Harry shrugs. 

“I was just wondering about memory potions I suppose,” he responds, and Theo looks shocked. 

“I didn’t think you were... interested in that sort of thing?” He says, glancing over to the door again.

Harry nods, “not really, just wondering what sort of things people can do with potions. I think I might close for today, it’s a slow day and I’m tired,” he says, walking over towards the entrance. Theo is on his tail. 

“Sounds good to me, I’ll talk to you again,” he puts a hand on Harry’s shoulder as he passes, “and you can _always_ talk to me if you need.” 

\--

After picking Scorp up from school and making dinner, Harry goes up to his room and sits on his bed, staring at the picture of him and Draco in their wedding day, where it sits on their bedside table. Why would someone go out of their way to create a whole new potion just to make Draco forget his life and put him in some random town? Working at a library and thinking that Harry is married to Ginny? 

It makes no sense, Harry sighs and rubs his forehead. He really wants to visit Draco again, but he usually does it while Scorp is at school and he can’t very well leave him home alone. 

Half an hour later the urge hasn’t gone away and in fact has gotten worse. He contemplates for all of two seconds before he decides that he might as well, if only to ease his conscious. He quickly fire-calls Molly to see if she’s willing to take Scorp for the evening, and she’s absolutely thrilled. Apparently she’d just finished making him a pair of socks and couldn’t wait a second longer to give them to him. Harry smiles fondly, and then floos to the portkey office. He briefly thinks maybe the workers are simply bored, with how willing they always are to set up last second portkeys for him to the same place. 

When he gets there, the library is completely deserted aside from Draco, who seems to be looking stuff up on the computer. He glances up at Harry, who glamoured himself as the same red head as always. Draco nods to him as a hello and continues what he’s doing. 

Harry is happy to see Draco, and decides to wait to talk to him when he’s done working on whatever he’s working on. Harry is idling behind one of the bookshelves when the door jingles and Harry glances between the shelf to see the coffee guy enter, and Harry ducks behind the bookshelf so that he’s not seen. 

Why is that guy there? When it’s in the evening and he had just been there? Isn’t he just supposed to come to give Draco his coffee once every month? 

Harry peers through the books again and sees the two of them speaking for a moment before the man gives Draco some sort of drink. Draco says something and then takes a big sip, and Harry’s heart is beating a mile a minute. He instinctively reaches for his wand, and it’s not a second later that Draco crumbles to the ground. Harry jumps to action, instinctively casting stupefy at the coffee guy, who hadn’t noticed him. After the man falls to the ground Harry rushes to Draco’s side, making sure he’s alive. 

He’s breathing just fine, and Harry slumps in relief. He sends a patronus to Ron, lacking anything else to do. He has to get the two unconscious people out of the library before anyone enters, and his portkey lasts another half hour at least. He wipes some of Dracos hair out of his forehead and checks for any signs of discomfort, but he seems to be sleeping peacefully. 

Harry glances at the other man, wearing the exact same outfit he had been wearing every other time Harry had seen him. His face is unfamiliar, not striking any memory Harry has of the people from hogwarts, or even anyone he should know. 

Ron and a few other aurors arrive soon after, and the others take the guy and apparate away. Ron walks over to Harry and Draco, checking him over just as Harry had. He sighs deeply and rubs his forehead. 

“I doubt he’s remembered, we’ll have to take him to yours. We can’t very well lock him up just because he doesn’t remember you and has nowhere else to go,” Ron says, and he sounds stressed. 

“It’s lucky you were here to catch it, I can’t imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t been here.” 

Harry’s heart drops for the second time and he holds Draco a little bit tighter, realizing that he almost didn’t come to see Draco. He can’t imagine what he would’ve done if they had lost Draco again. He doesn’t want to think about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah. I’ll try to keep updates more regular from now on, but I just started my first year of university so it’s a gamble. I’m really sorry, if that matters.


	7. 7 - 2024 words this time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco thinks he may have gone insane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i actually like this chapter a lot. nothing really important happens and yet it manages to be pretty much double the length of my other chapters. Thats for you, commenter who complained about chapter lengths. Also idk shit about crime solving especially fantasy wizard crime solving so i mean dont judge me if its wrong... i just wanted gay angst okay i did my best.

Harry is pacing his living room, glancing over at the unconscious body on his couch intermittently. He knows Draco’s not injured or dying, a healer had looked him over and promised that he just had a bit of sleeping draught, and he’d be awake in no time. This didn’t stop Harry from worrying, chewing his nails and tugging at his hair. He cast a quick tempus, and realized it hadn't been three minutes since he last checked. Alright, he needs to calm down. He forces himself to stop pacing and takes a deep calming breath, trying not to spiral.

He looks at Draco again, seemingly sleeping peacefully. Thank Merlin for that at least. He sits down in front of Draco, gently pushing a stray strand of hair off his forehead. He really is beautiful, and Harry had missed him so much. He had managed to see him quite a few times after they found him, but seeing him back in their house, the home they chose and share, overwhelms Harry and he drops his head onto Dracos slowly rising and falling chest, refusing to let the tears fall. He has no reason to cry anymore, Draco is safe with him and he’ll never let this happen again.

“I love you,” he whispers, and then lifts his head and repeats it, kissing Draco’s forehead. With one final calming breath he stands back up, just in time too as Ron floos into the room. He looks pale and angry.

He walks over to Harry, sparing a glance towards Draco, and pulls his best friend into a hug, “shite Harry, I’m so sorry but-” he pauses and grabs Harry by the shoulders, ending their sudden hug to make eye contact, “-those bloody new recruits managed to lose the bastard somehow, I should’ve went with them, what was I thinking-” he bemoans, sounding guilty. A pit opens up under Harry that his stomach falls right into, and he has to close his eyes.

“Are you- are you sure?” Harry asks, deciding denial is as good a place as any to live. Theres no fucking way a stunned, unconscious wizard managed to escape a group of trained aurors. Harry won't believe it.

Ron rubs his hands down his face, “This was too dire a situation to waste time with porteys, so we apparated but the _reason_ we used portkeys in the first place is the stupid town is multiple apparations away, and supposedly one of the new recruits got sick after a few, and the slimy bastard managed to fight out of the grip of the others, not expecting him to be awake. He apparated away before the man even finished vomiting.” Ron explains, dropping into an armchair with a loud stressed sigh. Harry also lets himself fall into a seated position, on the couch Draco is currently resting on, just enough room at the end for Harry not to sit on his legs.

“But we have Draco, there's no way he can get through our wards, plus we’re adding a few extra here just in case…. If Draco gets his memory back before we figure out who it is, he can help us by telling us exactly what happened, so we have leads. Everything will be fine, alright?” Ron says, giving Harry a reassuring look. Harry briefly wonders when Ron became so mature and when he himself became a panicked disaster. Probably when his husband was kidnapped, he answers himself internally, and hates himself for it.

“When,” Harry mutters, and at Ron's confused look he continues, “ _when_ Draco gets his memory back.”

\--

It’s a few hours and cups of tea later that Draco finally stirs, groaning loudly and rubbing at his temple, “christ I’m never drinking again,” he mumbles and sits up, blinking away the sleep. He then seems to realize where he is and gasps, “where the fuck am I?” he says in a panic, looking around. It’s then he sees the two figures staring at him in shock, and flinches away.

“Potter? Weasley? What have you done to me!” He shouts, standing up quickly, but that proves to be a dumb idea as naseua suddenly doubles him over. There’s a pair of arms around him, gently coaxing him down into a seated position, and Draco internally hopes its not the dumb Weasley. 

He squints his eyes open and is minutely relieved to see green eyes looking at him in concern, and then remembers himself and scowls, flicking his arm so Harry will stop _holding_ him. He scoots away from him and then _slowly_ observes his surroundings. He’s clearly in someone's house, their living room to be exact, and there are pictures hanging on the walls that Dracos still sleep-blurry eyes can't make out. They’re sitting on a couch, and the coffee table in front of them has a few things on it, nothing of interest. He finally makes out Rons startled face and… ah shit, auror robes.

“Whatever it is you think I’ve done, you’re wrong. Let me go,” He says, trying and nearly failing to hold back his anger. He thought they were done with accusing him of crimes every chance they got. Apparently the gryffindor sense of moral superiority never went away. Ron is still staring at him, clearly unsure what to say. Draco doesn’t dare look at Harry, who is still for some unknown reason sitting next to him, albeit he didn’t move any closer when Draco scooted away, so they’re not risking contact anymore. 

“Um- well-” Ron finally spoke, rubbing the back of his neck, “for starters, you’re not a suspect for anything right now… what do you remember from today?” Ron asks, and Draco crosses his arms, and realizes they’ve left him his wand. Dumb… but well, he’s not stupid enough to try to escape an auror and someone who’s been out for his demise since day one. He glares at Ron and racks his brain to remember every detail he can up until he woke up wherever he is. 

“None of your business,” remembering to reassure himself and telling the Weasel are two different things.

“Dr- Malfoy, just answer the question. Please,” so the Boy who Lived can speak! Draco flinches at the clear slip up, and remembers Longbottoms stange need to be on a first name basis as well. Strange and annoying. He turns his glare towards Harry, and is shocked to see how absolutely wrecked he looks. 

“You look like shit, don’t you sleep?” He says, startling everyone including himself. That sounded alarmingly close to genuine concern. Harry looks up at him and tentatively smiles, which shocks the glare right off of Draco's face, who prays he hasn’t gone pink. Right, so the world has been flipped upside down if Harry Potter of all people is smiling at him.

He sniffs indignantly and turns towards Ron, “If you must know…. I…” his headache comes back full force for a second and he cringes, taking a breath, and it goes away in a second, “-I closed up the library where I am currently employed and went home, decided to have a bit of a drink, and got a bit carried away. Imagine my surprise when I woke up… wherever we are,” He answers, and neither of the other occupants seem to have liked the answer. 

“Ou- erm, my house,” Harry mumbles, and Draco’s eyebrows shoot up, and he takes a second look around. He’s startled by the revelation but in retrospect it makes sense. He knew it was obviously a family home, and he doubts the Weasley could be this clean. He internally waves away the strange sense of guilt he suddenly feels, because he has no reason to be guilty. 

He tries to take a second peak at the family photos hanging up on the walls but finds that they are still blurry, despite the sleep blurriness Draco had experienced earlier being completely gone. Rapidly he feels anxiety well up, but luckily Ron seems distracted so he can’t be made fun of.

The same can't be said of Harry, who is paying annoyingly close attention to him. He easily masks his anxious feeling, he’s gotten pretty good at faking emotions. He’s had a lot of experience.

Clearly, Harry sees right through him somehow, and he reaches towards him for a second before changing his mind and standing up, speaking calmly, “I’ll go fetch you some tea,” he mumbles, and Draco mutely nods, confused beyond all belief as to why Harry seems so concerned, and how he had managed to see through him so easily. He looks towards the far wall and calms himself down by rationalising it as Harry simply making an excuse to distance himself from Draco, and he probably has some sort of privacy charm on the photos so that Draco can’t see his personal life. Draco also ignores the pang of upset that the thought conjures.

Ron is about to open his mouth to speak when another figure floos into the room, and Draco spots a very happy looking Granger appear. Well, maybe she’s a Weasley now. 

He’s startled half to death when Hermione runs and throws her arms around Draco, “Thank christ that Harry was there!” She says, retracting the hug and grinning at Draco, tears in her eyes, “we were all so concerned-” Ron places a hand on her shoulder and she steps away, looking over to him. They have some sort of strange eye conversation and Hermione looks back over to him in silent realization. Draco is stockstill, trying to process what on earth has just happened. He has half a mind to stun the Granger and run the fuck out of there, but he hasn’t got a death wish, no way he’s doing that in front of an auror, an auror who’s her husband no less. 

Harry enters the room just then and Draco realizes with horror that he’s relieved to see him for the second time already since he woke up. He greets Hermione, doesn’t seem to notice the tension, and silently hands Draco a cup of tea. The cup has a lion on it, running around chasing a stray paint blob. Draco stares down at the cup, the lion looking at him for a mere second, and feels tears threatening to erupt from his eyes. Ah, so he _has_ gone insane. Why on earth is he suddenly so fucking sad? The sight of the cup has made him feel like he’s missing something super important, an ache in his chest forming. He refuses to let the tears fall and looks up at the three people who clearly have also gone insane. Harry is looking at him with clear and open concern, Ron is watching curiously and Hermione has the decency to look guilty.

Draco takes a sip if only so he doesn’t say something stupid and land himself a free ride to St. Mungos. He’s shocked to find the tea exactly to his liking, and the ache burns a little hotter.

“I’ll repeat myself, what have you _done to me_?” he says, managing to sound like he has the upper hand here when clearly they’re conspiring against him. Hermione actually covers her mouth with her hands and tears up again, while Harry lets out a long breath and falls into an armchair. Dracos inclined to agree.

“Well… It’s kind of a long story… and you may not believe it,” Ron starts, and Draco calms himself down of the burst of anxiety that the sentence produces. He takes another sip of the tea and hates how it actually manages to calm him. He forces himself to relax and closes his eyes after the sip, smelling the tea to focus on the sense. When he opens his eyes Harry is watching him as if he’s about to keel over at any moment, Hermione seems to be wiping tears out of her eyes and Ron stands awkwardly with his hands in his pockets, fake casual.

“Well get on with it,” Draco demands, deciding that he deserves a vacation after this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 ty and dont expect me to double the words again a 2000 word average is all i have in me


	8. oh shit angst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally tell Draco the truth, and he denies it until he can't anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aha!!! this scene is literally the reason I started writing this!
> 
> (me adding angst tags: hehehehe oops)

Draco is annoyed, because the three of them keep avoiding the topic. Harry runs back into the kitchen and grabs another set of teacups for Hermione and Ron, and then Ron takes a moment to remove his outer auror robes. Hermione also decides that she needs to change where she’s sitting a few times. Ron and Harry keep starting sentences then stopping, allowing the other to speak first. Overall it's incredibly annoying and Draco already had thin patience to begin with. 

“Christ, will the two of you just get on with it!” He shouts, as Hermione changes seats again. The three of them turn to him and Harry cringes. The longer they stall, the more Draco feels like whatever they want to tell him is something awful. He hopes nothing terrible has happened to his mother, the two of them haven’t spoken in a while. Draco feels a bit guilty about that, but he left for a good reason.

What was that reason again?

“So, well, this may sound insane to you but- erm… the two of us, you and me, we’re…. Sort of married?” Harry finally makes himself say, and Draco takes a moment to process what he’s said. He laughs, and the laugh sounds a bit crazed. Well, thank god… it's not Draco who has gone insane but rather Harry.

“Are you so rude as to think I would fall for something stupid like that? I don’t see what _you_ gain from lying about something as silly as that. The two of us could _never_ be married,” Draco says, and he places his now empty teacup onto the table in front of him harshly as if to prove his point somehow. He glances up at Harry who looks a little hurt. Whatever, it’s not his responsibility to feed into his deranged delusions.

“Why not?” Harry asks, and Ron sighs loudly. Of course instead of explaining to Draco everything that happened he picks an argument. 

“Why not?” Draco asks incredulously, “It would take less time to list the reasons we would! There are so many reasons we could never date, reason number one being you’re the bloody saviour of the wizarding world and I-” Draco glares at him, “I was decidedly _not_. More importantly, I hate you.”

Harry doesn’t seem hurt by his words this time, in fact Draco notices him smiling as if this is the best thing he’s ever been told, “list one,” he says, and Draco frowns.

“Didn’t I just list two?” 

Harry shakes his head, “No, you said it would be easier to list reasons we would be married. Tell me one then,” he seems entirely to smug for his own good. 

“Oh Merlin, they’re _flirting again_ ,” he hears Ron groan, and he pauses just as he’s about to insult Harry again. Flirting? As if, Harry is being an idiot and twisting his words. He wonders what has happened to the three of them that they all think this is perfectly normal. This strange idea that he and Harry are married that they all have does explain why Hermione hugged him upon meeting, but now he has to find a way out of this situation before it gets impossible. He entertains the thought that maybe Harry is under some love potion, but he hasn’t tried to… kiss Draco or anything, isn't waxing poetic, he’s just stating that the two of them are impossibly married. Plus, that doesn’t explain why Ron and Hermione are in on it. Come to think of it, Neville said something about Harry missing him didn’t he? Something sinister is going on here, Draco is sure of it.

“Draco, there's no easy way to tell you this, but your memory since school has been tampered with, and instead of remembering your life with Harry you remember everything differently. You and Harry have been married for years, in fact you have an adopted son,” Ron gets straight to the point, “we need to find a way to restore your memory, but we don’t know how they’ve been altered.” 

The panic rises in Draco's chest again and he’s shaking his head before Ron even finishes speaking, “no, no no no! Harry and- your sister, they’ve been together since school, they’re married and have three children. I haven’t seen Harry at all! There’s no way-” Draco finds himself choked up for no reason. An adopted son… “there's no way we could have… could have…” he can’t bring himself to say it. 

Harry stands and walks over to him, clearly intent on trying to comfort him, but Draco recoils from him with a panicked expression, “no! Stop trying to lie to me, that’s impossible!”

At Draco's reaction, Harry changes course. He picks one of the photos off the wall and with an extended arm so as not to scare Draco again, shows him the photo. 

Draco hesitantly takes the picture frame, irrationally afraid of looking at it. He peers down at it and sees the same blurry mess he got earlier trying to take a peek. He squints and tries to focus, and manages to see a grinning Harry, but trying to focus on the other people present in the family photo leaves him with an intense headache. He drops the picture frame and it crashes to the floor, he grabs his head and hisses.

This time Harry does come over, kneeling in front of Draco and holding his head, not caring about the shattered glass underneath his feet. He gently lifts Draco's head so they’re looking at each other, “What's wrong love? What did you see?” and the concern in his voice as he calls Draco “Love” has Draco feeling choked up all over again. The headache resides, but the feeling of intense loss he felt at seeing the lion teacup earlier comes back. Something is definitely wrong with him, that much Draco can believe now.

“I can’t- it’s just a blurry mess. There’s… It’s you, and-and your family I’m assuming,” Draco mumbles, backing up and pulling himself from Harry's grip. Harry lets it happen, leaning back to watch Draco. 

“We need to find out the effects of the potion he’s been drinking for months now, they’re clearly hurting him,” Hermione says, also sounding like she’s seconds from sobbing. Draco hates how they’re all _pitying_ him. He’s not a child, and he’s not about to die. 

Draco takes a second to breathe, but before he can try to rationalize anything that's happening the floo lights up and a small boy comes barrelling out. The boy is blonde, and he has tears running down his cheeks. He looks desperately around the room, spotting Draco.

Draco gasps loudly as the child runs up to him and throws himself onto him, “Papa you’ve been gone forever I was scared that you didn’t love us anymore! Grandma said I couldn’t come because you needed rest but I couldn’t wait to see you! I saw Auntie Hermione use the flow and when Grandma was looking away I came here so I could see you, I love you!” 

Draco stares at this small boy and suddenly he can’t hold it in anymore, tears spring from his eyes and he raises his hands to hold this tiny head in his hands. This child is just… so small. He doesn’t notice any of the other people in the room anymore, crying with this child. He pulls him in for a hug, staring at the ground at the shattered photo as the boy cries into his shoulder.

“Even I know you’re not so cruel as to fake… fake this,” Draco says, looking up at Harry for a moment. Harry looks equal amounts relieved and scared out of his mind. 

Harry stands up and places his hand on the child's shoulder as the floo comes to life again, and one Molly Weasley steps through, already apologizing as she appears. She looks over to the couch where Draco is sitting and gasps, her hands coming to cover her mouth in shock, “Oh, he heard someone say Draco’s name and I couldn’t manage to distract him, he must of learned how to use the floo somehow, I-I took my eyes off him for a second, thank Merlin that he hasn’t taken his pronunciation skills from his father, otherwise he might have ended up in the wrong place,” Molly sounds incredibly guilty as she speaks. Draco pays her no mind. 

He pulls the child away from their hug, but he doesn’t let go, again holding this child's head in his hands, wiping away his tears with his thumbs. The boy has the same haircut that he had when he was about that age, Draco can’t help but notice. He stares in astonishment, “It’s pronounced floo,” is all he manages to say, remembering that he said he came from the flow.

“C’mon, papas tired. He’ll come tuck you in later, but could you please go back to Grandma Mollys? I’m sure the other kids miss you, and we have some, er, adult stuff to take care of. I promise you’ll see him later today,” Harry says, gently prying the child away from Draco. He speaks softly and kindly, and Draco is yet again finding himself lost in an unnamed emotion. 

“Promise?” the boy asks, his eyes huge and glassy.

“Promise,” Draco and Harry say at the same time. This pleases him and he smiles through his tears.

“Okay! See you later papa! I hope you’ve been reading my letters, we have so much to talk about!” he says as him and Molly leave once again.

Draco takes a moment to breath, dropping his head into his hands. He wipes away stray tears and then forces himself to look up with a final deep breath. Harry is still in front of him, and Draco feels impossibly guilty that he has to ask.

“What’s… what's his name?” he says, and he can see Harry's heart break through his eyes. 

“Scorpius, his name is Scorpius. We usually call him Scorp… It was your idea, his name,” Harry responds, using the same gentle tone he used earlier. Draco nods.

“I always wanted to name my future child Scorpius,” Draco mumbles, and Harry nods. At least that memory hasn’t been taken from him.

“So… he’s our son. _Our_ son?” Harry nods again, and Draco shakes his head lightly, “how could we have ever gotten together? How could you have forgiven me?” he asks quietly, remembering the other people in the room.

“Oh, Draco,” Harry whispers, pulling him in for a hug. Draco doesn’t resist, all the emotions he’s been feeling since he woke up in Harry’s- _their_ house come back, and he just lets Harry hold him. This, if nothing else, is proof enough that Harry must love him. Draco can’t wrap his head around it, it just seems impossibly out of reach, to be loved by someone enough to spend their lives together, he doesn’t remember a time he felt genuinely deserving of love like that. 

Knowing now that he has it and can’t remember it makes him sob and clutch Harry closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not gonna lie this got me sobbing a little... Draco having to ask his own sons name is just so heartbreaking to me. Hope you enjoye hehe.


End file.
